走路慢的人可能衰老速度更快

Ambling along at a leisurely pace might seem like an ideal anti-stress strategy, but if slow-and-steady is your usual speed, it could be an indication that you’re aging more quickly than someone with a faster gait.

慢悠悠地走路似乎是一種理想的抗壓策略，但如果你一直都緩慢平穩(wěn)地走路，這可能向你發(fā)出了一個信號：你會比走路快的人衰老得更快。

A research published in JAMA Network Open used data from a long-term study collecting health information on over 900 New Zealanders over a 40-year period that started when the participants were around 3 years old. They assessed gait speed, focusing on the slowest 20 percent and fastest 20 percent throughout three walking conditions: at their usual gait, at their normal pace while reciting alternate letters of the alphabet out loud, and at their maximum gait speed.

《美國醫(yī)學會雜志網(wǎng)絡公開版》上發(fā)布了一項研究，研究數(shù)據(jù)來自對900多名新西蘭人進行的長達40年的健康追蹤調查，參試者自3歲起就接受了測試。研究人員評估了參試者的步行速度，重點關注步速最慢和最快的20%參試者的三項行走速度：一般步行速度、一邊大聲背誦字母表中的間隔字母一邊正常行走的速度，以及最大步行速度。

The slowest walkers averaged 1.21 meters per second (m/s), or roughly 2.7 miles per hour, throughout all three of the conditions, while the fastest walkers averaged 1.75 m/s, or 3.9 miles per hour.

在以上三種狀態(tài)下，步速最慢的參試者的平均速度為每秒1.21米，或約每小時2.7英里，而步速最快的參試者為每秒1.75米，或每小時3.9英里。

They also had 19 biomarkers assessed, including body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, cholesterol levels, white blood cell count, gum health, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Finally, they had neuroimaging tests to look at age-related features of the brain.

研究人員還評估了19項生理指標，包括體重指數(shù)(BMI)、腰臀比、膽固醇水平、白細胞計數(shù)、牙齦健康以及心肺功能等等。最后，他們還利用神經影像測試評估了參試者與年齡相關的大腦特征。

Researchers discovered that those with the slowest walking speed showed accelerated aging across the various biomarkers, as well as a reduction in total brain volume, showing that walking speed can affect both physical and cognitive health. In fact, there was even a 16-point IQ difference between the fastest and the slowest walkers, the study found. Slower walkers were also judged to appear significantly older than faster walkers, and scored worse on tests that measured balance and grip strength.

研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)，從多項生理指標來看，走路最慢的參試者呈現(xiàn)了加速衰老的特征，同時他們的大腦總容量也有所減小。這表明，走路速度會影響人的身體健康和認知健康。研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，走路最慢和最快的參試者之間平均相差16個智商值。走路較慢的參試者比走路快的參試者看起來明顯更顯老，在平衡和握力測試中的得分也更低。

“How fast people are walking in midlife tells us a lot about how much their bodies and brains have aged over time,” said lead researcher Line Rasmussen, Ph.D., of Duke University. She told Runner’s World the most remarkable aspect of the research is that they may be able to look at cognitive functions in toddlers — how well they do on an IQ test, their proficiency at language, how easily they manage their emotions — and predict how slowly those children will be walking at midlife. “Gait speed is not only an indicator of aging, but also an indicator of lifelong brain health,” she said.

杜克大學的首席研究員萊恩·拉斯穆森博士說：“人到中年時的步行速度可以反映出隨著時間的推移，他們身體和大腦的衰老程度如何。”她告訴《跑者世界》，這項研究最引人注目的一點是，研究者可以通過觀察學步兒童的各種認知能力，比如他們在智力測試中的表現(xiàn)、他們的語言能力和情緒管理能力，來預測這些孩子中年時期的步行速度。她說：“步行速度不僅是一項衡量衰老的指標，也是衡量大腦終身健康狀況的指標。”

Does that mean those kids are destined to be slow walkers, and therefore at a disadvantage health-wise when they get older? Not necessarily, Rasmussen added, because there are ways to improve brain health. For example, running. “Although we didn’t investigate running speed in this study, typically people who love running are also able to walk very fast, because running keeps the brain’s capacity to control bipedal locomotion at its sharpest,” she said. “Running is an excellent way of keeping the body and mind in shape.”

這是否意味著，這些孩子長大以后就必然會走路緩慢，他們年老之后的身體機能也必會處于劣勢?拉斯穆森博士認為未必如此，因為大腦健康狀況可以通過多種方式來改善，例如跑步。“雖然在這項研究中，我們并沒有測試參與者的跑步速度，但通常來說，熱愛跑步的人走路也很快，因為跑步會使大腦控制雙足步行的能力保持在最敏銳的水平，”她說，“跑步是保持身心健康的絕佳方式。"